Washington Man Steps in Front of Tesla Cybercab to Test Its Self-Driving Response

Self-driving vehicles continue to attract intense attention, with the technology drawing both enthusiasm and serious questions about safety.

David Moss decided to put one autonomous vehicle through an unusually direct test: stepping into the path of a Tesla Cybercab to see what it would do.

Tesla’s Cybercab arrives

The Tesla Cybercab has been a major topic of discussion since it was first announced in 2024.

Now that the vehicle has officially launched, interest surrounding Tesla’s self-driving technology has only grown.

YouTuber Marques Brownlee is currently hoping the Cybercab doesn’t become a regular production car by the end of the year, following a bet he made.

Elon Musk has also made a bold claim about the vehicle, saying that owning a Cybercab could earn people $30,000 a year.

For some, the idea of a fully self-driving vehicle remains exciting. For others, the technology raises questions about what happens when an autonomous car encounters an unexpected situation.

Moss decided to create one such situation himself.

Moss steps into the Cybercab’s path

David Moss is no stranger to Tesla’s self-driving technology.

He’s the man who was taken on a 20,000-mile joyride by his Tesla Model 3.

He was also the first person in the world to travel coast-to-coast using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving, giving him plenty of firsthand experience with the company’s autonomous driving technology.

This time, however, he put the Cybercab to the test.

A clip circulating online shows Moss stepping directly in front of a Cybercab, apparently to find out whether the vehicle would recognize him and stop.

It was a risky experiment.

No matter how much confidence someone has in autonomous driving technology, deliberately placing yourself in front of a moving vehicle leaves room for something to go wrong.

In Moss’s case, the Cybercab stopped with impeccable timing.

The moment will likely be viewed by supporters of autonomous driving as another demonstration of the technology’s ability to react to a person entering its path.

Others may remain unconvinced.

For anyone still uncertain about self-driving vehicles, it could take more than a single demonstration—or several drives—to become completely comfortable with the technology.